Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
Amazing Day, Mark. Congrats on the verditer.
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18 months in Shanghai: March 2012 - August 2013 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter McMadd
- Start date
McMadd
You should see the other bloke...
I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so...
...doo-doo---diddle-dee-dee-dee-dee-deeeeee...
...well that's how it sounds in my head these days at any rate...
Saturday...again...5 days gone in the blink of an eye...where to? Ah yes, Yangshan for a change...No change in the procedure so Metro #9 to Qibao and then hotfoot south to the bridge of dreams to the Magic Isles...
A quick check of the Secret Oasis revealed birds were about but they were flighty thrushes whizzing overhead in the relatively strong breeze that was aligned such that it breezed straight into our location...we didn't stop long...
Arrived at the “Rubbish Dump” site to find half of christendom had descended...more on that anon...so we feck'd orf to the Hidden Valley and started birding...more thrushes evident as we slowly made our way along the usual trails...deep breath before listing all the species we saw today...Pale, Japanese, Dusky, Red-throated, White's, Eye-browed, Blue Whistling, Grey-backed, Chinese Blackbird...the place was full of turd(u)s...more on them later...
Buntings...Rustic and Elegant were the predominant species with one Chestnut flying through in a hurry to get somewhere else...a Little Bunting also put in a brief appearance and one other species was added to the tally later...more on that happy event anon (unless you guessed...hi Mike!)
A “Grotfinch”...Common Rosefinch by any other name was a new bird me on for Yangshan and legitimised the sighting I have no recollection of what-so-ever in Beidaihe in May 2008...well, be fair, they're not that memorable are they?
Eastern Great Tits, Daurian Redstarts and “effin'” Bluetails were all reliable and present and correct...A few Brambling came and went and came and went...the flock numbered maybe 20 but they were mostly in 1's and 2's...only once did I see them all airborne together...a Mugimaki Flyctacher was a welcome flash of colour...
What is that trilling noise I keep hearing? Ahhh...oooh (Ooooh...ahhhh maybe)...waxy wings...Japanese Waxwings to be precise...3-4 feeding in low berry bushes and generally zooming around between posing for pictures...Kevin won the game...best shot to him (insert post link here...http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2592814&postcount=177)
Also nice to see was a Siberian Stonechat...I thought I'd missed them this autumn but today delivered one at least!
Raptor action in the form of “Common” Buzzard (Japanese or Eastern?) and we added Kestrel and a Peregrine later...3 buzzards in total seen at 3 locations over the island...
What else? Ahh, yes...having grown tired of the increasing number of “strangers” we decided to decamp and were on our way out of the valley when a dual erupted at our feet...a male Daurian Redstart was piling into another small bird...I got the bins on it and...WOOT! WOOT!!...JAPANESE ROBIN!!! Oh yes...this was good but the stupid Daurian had chased it into invisibility! We searched the area for, oh, minutes to no avail before retracing our steps into the valley “just in case”...Well, Jimmy's brother was smilin' on us as the bird shot out from under my feet and posed at the base of a couple of trees before scooting across the path to disappear into some bamboo-type stuff...game over we thought...
Chatting to a local Shanghai birder while we waited for the bird to reappear, we learnt that a sighting in Century Park earlier in the week had mobilised the Chinese Idiot Photography Corps and they'd staked the park out ever since...the corollorific effect was one CIPC had ventured to Yangshan and found more at the Rubbish Dump site...suddenly the armada of expensive “look how big my ***** is” cars at the site made sense...lovely...we wondered what the “gardening” would result in today...more anon...
Conversation over we continued with “Plan A” and began to retrace our steps to the exit to the outer world...sure as eggs are eggs, the bird popped up again for final photos...
Off we went...to a site I'll not be naming in case the CIPC take it into the watermelon fat heads to go trash that too...suffice to say...we know how to get there...
Parked up and straight away Rustic Bunting perched on the fence and thrushes exploding away from our feet...nice...Off we strolled and immediately another bunting presented itself...quiet and quite the loner, subdued in colour but looking “interesting”...we took pics and I developed a “niggling feeling”...no matter...more Buzzards overhead giving the local Large-billed Crows something to play with...later on a Peregrine joined the fun stooping from a great height at one of the buzzards...buzzing the buzzard...groans
A bunting! On the path...then gone? Puzzled we walked up to where it had been and found nothing...couldn't be too much sun so what the...? Ahh...a ditch covered in vegetation and...Look! There!! Behind You!!! Brambling...but not just any Brambling...oh no, this one was a bone fide Fearless Brambling and we spent an eon with this confiding bird as it played the game of coming too close to focus on with us...cute and entertaining...we “liked” as they say in the book of faces...
Having filled our memory cards it was a retracing of the steps to the car pausing only to view the “interesting bunting” again...a suspicion was firmly in my mind but I wanted to check the references and ask Jocko for his opinion once I'd processed the pics...
As we left the site a Kestrel took exception to the Peregrine and they were at it at the roadside...worth a stop then...
Finally we headed to the Rubbish Dump site to find the CIPC's had thinned out sufficiently for us to see what the damage was...well...if any of them are reading...enjoy the pic with your car license plates on...hopefully the loss of face at being outed makes you think twice about dropping your litter, tearing down the very trees the birds rely on and generally trashing the environment deserves...you are a disgrace to China.
Birds...bluetails and Jap Robin...the Varied Tit's still about cheerfully ignoring it all...
So...a brilliant day spoilt at the finish by the thoughtless actions of these CIPC ********s...if anyone wants to post this on their websites full of brilliant images of birds so everyone knows how they go about getting them feel free...
Today's update from Jocko...the JAPANESE YELLOW BUNTING still at the site we will not name this morning and Japanese Robins and Waxwings still at the known locations...
...doo-doo---diddle-dee-dee-dee-dee-deeeeee...
...well that's how it sounds in my head these days at any rate...
Saturday...again...5 days gone in the blink of an eye...where to? Ah yes, Yangshan for a change...No change in the procedure so Metro #9 to Qibao and then hotfoot south to the bridge of dreams to the Magic Isles...
A quick check of the Secret Oasis revealed birds were about but they were flighty thrushes whizzing overhead in the relatively strong breeze that was aligned such that it breezed straight into our location...we didn't stop long...
Arrived at the “Rubbish Dump” site to find half of christendom had descended...more on that anon...so we feck'd orf to the Hidden Valley and started birding...more thrushes evident as we slowly made our way along the usual trails...deep breath before listing all the species we saw today...Pale, Japanese, Dusky, Red-throated, White's, Eye-browed, Blue Whistling, Grey-backed, Chinese Blackbird...the place was full of turd(u)s...more on them later...
Buntings...Rustic and Elegant were the predominant species with one Chestnut flying through in a hurry to get somewhere else...a Little Bunting also put in a brief appearance and one other species was added to the tally later...more on that happy event anon (unless you guessed...hi Mike!)
A “Grotfinch”...Common Rosefinch by any other name was a new bird me on for Yangshan and legitimised the sighting I have no recollection of what-so-ever in Beidaihe in May 2008...well, be fair, they're not that memorable are they?
Eastern Great Tits, Daurian Redstarts and “effin'” Bluetails were all reliable and present and correct...A few Brambling came and went and came and went...the flock numbered maybe 20 but they were mostly in 1's and 2's...only once did I see them all airborne together...a Mugimaki Flyctacher was a welcome flash of colour...
What is that trilling noise I keep hearing? Ahhh...oooh (Ooooh...ahhhh maybe)...waxy wings...Japanese Waxwings to be precise...3-4 feeding in low berry bushes and generally zooming around between posing for pictures...Kevin won the game...best shot to him (insert post link here...http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2592814&postcount=177)
Also nice to see was a Siberian Stonechat...I thought I'd missed them this autumn but today delivered one at least!
Raptor action in the form of “Common” Buzzard (Japanese or Eastern?) and we added Kestrel and a Peregrine later...3 buzzards in total seen at 3 locations over the island...
What else? Ahh, yes...having grown tired of the increasing number of “strangers” we decided to decamp and were on our way out of the valley when a dual erupted at our feet...a male Daurian Redstart was piling into another small bird...I got the bins on it and...WOOT! WOOT!!...JAPANESE ROBIN!!! Oh yes...this was good but the stupid Daurian had chased it into invisibility! We searched the area for, oh, minutes to no avail before retracing our steps into the valley “just in case”...Well, Jimmy's brother was smilin' on us as the bird shot out from under my feet and posed at the base of a couple of trees before scooting across the path to disappear into some bamboo-type stuff...game over we thought...
Chatting to a local Shanghai birder while we waited for the bird to reappear, we learnt that a sighting in Century Park earlier in the week had mobilised the Chinese Idiot Photography Corps and they'd staked the park out ever since...the corollorific effect was one CIPC had ventured to Yangshan and found more at the Rubbish Dump site...suddenly the armada of expensive “look how big my ***** is” cars at the site made sense...lovely...we wondered what the “gardening” would result in today...more anon...
Conversation over we continued with “Plan A” and began to retrace our steps to the exit to the outer world...sure as eggs are eggs, the bird popped up again for final photos...
Off we went...to a site I'll not be naming in case the CIPC take it into the watermelon fat heads to go trash that too...suffice to say...we know how to get there...
Parked up and straight away Rustic Bunting perched on the fence and thrushes exploding away from our feet...nice...Off we strolled and immediately another bunting presented itself...quiet and quite the loner, subdued in colour but looking “interesting”...we took pics and I developed a “niggling feeling”...no matter...more Buzzards overhead giving the local Large-billed Crows something to play with...later on a Peregrine joined the fun stooping from a great height at one of the buzzards...buzzing the buzzard...groans
A bunting! On the path...then gone? Puzzled we walked up to where it had been and found nothing...couldn't be too much sun so what the...? Ahh...a ditch covered in vegetation and...Look! There!! Behind You!!! Brambling...but not just any Brambling...oh no, this one was a bone fide Fearless Brambling and we spent an eon with this confiding bird as it played the game of coming too close to focus on with us...cute and entertaining...we “liked” as they say in the book of faces...
Having filled our memory cards it was a retracing of the steps to the car pausing only to view the “interesting bunting” again...a suspicion was firmly in my mind but I wanted to check the references and ask Jocko for his opinion once I'd processed the pics...
As we left the site a Kestrel took exception to the Peregrine and they were at it at the roadside...worth a stop then...
Finally we headed to the Rubbish Dump site to find the CIPC's had thinned out sufficiently for us to see what the damage was...well...if any of them are reading...enjoy the pic with your car license plates on...hopefully the loss of face at being outed makes you think twice about dropping your litter, tearing down the very trees the birds rely on and generally trashing the environment deserves...you are a disgrace to China.
Birds...bluetails and Jap Robin...the Varied Tit's still about cheerfully ignoring it all...
So...a brilliant day spoilt at the finish by the thoughtless actions of these CIPC ********s...if anyone wants to post this on their websites full of brilliant images of birds so everyone knows how they go about getting them feel free...
Today's update from Jocko...the JAPANESE YELLOW BUNTING still at the site we will not name this morning and Japanese Robins and Waxwings still at the known locations...
Attachments
Last edited:
McMadd
You should see the other bloke...
McMadd
You should see the other bloke...
McMadd
You should see the other bloke...
I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so...
What Happens When Chinese Photographers Come To Town...
1. Cars
2. Rubbish
3. Trees torn down and then "fence" erected using broken creeper
4. Discarded collapsible stool
5. Well they ate well...
This is the second such devastation at this site. If you look back on my posts you will see similar pictures of the "gardening" here when the Varied Tits showed up and there are similar shots from my trip to Dongzhai NR where the "Pitta Photo Hide" was strewn with discarded water bottles and cigarette butts...
Casual littering and China...Marching On to Victory...
What Happens When Chinese Photographers Come To Town...
1. Cars
2. Rubbish
3. Trees torn down and then "fence" erected using broken creeper
4. Discarded collapsible stool
5. Well they ate well...
This is the second such devastation at this site. If you look back on my posts you will see similar pictures of the "gardening" here when the Varied Tits showed up and there are similar shots from my trip to Dongzhai NR where the "Pitta Photo Hide" was strewn with discarded water bottles and cigarette butts...
Casual littering and China...Marching On to Victory...
Attachments
McMadd
You should see the other bloke...
Succinctly put Mike!
I suppose it's not exactly fresh news that these things happen and I'm not naive enough to be totally surprised but given the current publicity regarding the Oriental Stork massacre, you might think people who make an effort to get to out of the way places to photograph wild creatures might just think about giving them and their habitat some respect...
...let alone the fact that this "Rubbish Dump" site is just that with a working recycling centre and a population of people who eke out a living there...these rich, big lens toting, guys roll up and treat their home as nothing more than an extension of that rubbish tip...
Enough with the sermon! Last birding this month for me as I'm headed back to the motherland for a couple of weeks work and play so it'll be December when next I get out...cranes must be on the agenda at least...
McM
I suppose it's not exactly fresh news that these things happen and I'm not naive enough to be totally surprised but given the current publicity regarding the Oriental Stork massacre, you might think people who make an effort to get to out of the way places to photograph wild creatures might just think about giving them and their habitat some respect...
...let alone the fact that this "Rubbish Dump" site is just that with a working recycling centre and a population of people who eke out a living there...these rich, big lens toting, guys roll up and treat their home as nothing more than an extension of that rubbish tip...
Enough with the sermon! Last birding this month for me as I'm headed back to the motherland for a couple of weeks work and play so it'll be December when next I get out...cranes must be on the agenda at least...
McM
It was even worse than the photos show Mark. Both sides of that path had had the vegetation removed, saplings had been broken off and twisted between trees to make perches and there was tons of rubbish everywhere. It is heart-breaking when we think back to what this little birding paradise was like just 2 months ago.
McMadd
You should see the other bloke...
Greetings all!
A couple of Sunday trips out to write up and post but with the work, work, work thing meaning business as usual this week that may have to wait until the coming weekend...
In the meantime...all the best for those of you that celebrate at this time...
Here's to a bird-filled 2013...
McM
A couple of Sunday trips out to write up and post but with the work, work, work thing meaning business as usual this week that may have to wait until the coming weekend...
In the meantime...all the best for those of you that celebrate at this time...
Here's to a bird-filled 2013...
McM
Attachments
thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
Nice addition to your "Japanese Collection". I too have a delightful addition to wrap up the Mayan calendar.
